Asian Archery: Verma, Mohit in semis face-off; Jyothi too reaches last-four stage

Dhaka, Nov 15 (IANS) India are assured of at least a silver medal in the compound men individual championships as Abhishek Verma is set to meet compatriot Mohit in the semi-finals of the 22nd Asian Archery Championship here. Abhishek and Verma made it to the semi-finals by easily winning their quarter-final matches against Iranian opponents as the compound archers kept the Indian flag flying as three of them -- Jyothi Surekha Vennam in Women's Individual Compound -- being the third, making it to the last-four stage'

In contrast, none of the recurve archers managed to get past the quarter-final stage. Youth World Championship medallist Ankita Bhakat and Olympian Pravin Jadhav were ousted in the quarter-finals in the recurve individual section on Monday.

In the Men's Individual Compound competition, Abhishek Verma defeated Mohammadsaleh Palizban of Iran 149-147 while Mohit, who was placed 16th after the qualifying round, got the better of eighth-seeded Iranian Amir Kazempour 148-144. Mohit had shocked top-ranked South Korean Choi Yong-Hee in the pre-quarterfinals.

The two Indians will now meet on November 18 for a place in the final. The second semi-final will be contested between Sergey Khristich of Kazakhstan and South Korea's Kim Jong-Ho, the second seed.

Khristich defeated India's Rishabh Yadav, who finished third in qualifying and comfortably won his second and third-round matches, in the quarter-final in a tie-breaker shoot-off. Both archers shot identical scores of 145 and in the shoot-off, both scored 9. However, Khristich's arrow was closer to the 10 and he thus advanced to the semis. Kim Jong-Ho defeated compatriot Kang Dong-Hyeon 149-144 in the last-eight encounter.

Earlier, Asian Games and World Cup gold-medallist Abhishek Verma, who got a bye in the opening elimination round, beat Vietnam's Trinh Van Duc 149-139 in the second round and then overcame compatriot Aman Saini 150-143 in the pre-quarters. Mohit beat Pham Duc Loc of Vietnam and South Korea's Choi Yong-Hee in the first two elimination rounds.

In Women Individual Compound, world championships silver-medallist Jyothi was the only Indian to make the semis. Jyothi beat Vietnam's Le Phuong Thao 146-141 in the second round and then defeated compatriot Parneet Kaur 148-146 in the quarter-final. India's Priya Gurjar fell in the quarter-finals while Muskan Kirar lost in the second round.

India had a poor day in the recurve section as none of eight archers - both men and women - could make it to the medal rounds of their respective individual events.

In the men's individual recurve, Tokyo Olympian Pravin Jadhav and reigning national champion Parth Salunkhe were eliminated in the quarter-finals. Jadhav, who had beaten fellow Indian Sukhchain Singh in the third round, fell 6-4 to South Korea's Han Woo Tack in the last eight. Salunkhe also lost to South Korean Kim Pil-Joong 6-4 in a last-eight encounter.

Kapil -- the best-placed Indian in the qualifying round at fifth position -- lost 6-5 to Sanzhar Mussayev of Kazakhstan in the third round.

Youth world champion Ankita Bhakat was stunned 6-4 by Bangladesh's Diya Siddique in the second round of the women's individual recurve. Meanwhile, Komalika Bari, Madhu Vedwan, and Ridhi all lost to South Korean opponents in the quarter-finals.